Wallace Alexander Nelson (29 April 1856 – 5 May 1943) was a short term

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

n politician. He represented the electoral district of Hannans from 1904 to 1905 in the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House, Perth, Parliament House in the Western Australian capi ...

. He was described as the wit and humorist of the Labor Party in those days, having much experience at oration and writing. He later moved on to editing newspapers, and writing books.

Biography

Born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, Scotland, Nelson had been ordered to relocate to a warmer climate by his doctor in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, England the 1880s, and subsequently immigrated to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

and then

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...

. While there, he unsuccessfully contested the Federal Seat of Capricornia in the 1901 Federal election, which was won by Alexander Paterson with a margin of 139 votes. He then moved to

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

. In Kalgoorlie, he was editor of the ''

Westralian Worker The ''Westralian Worker'' was a newspaper established in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia in 1900 and published until its demise in 1951 in Perth, Western Australia. History It was established as the ''Official organ of the Western Australian La ...

'' until December 1902, having taken over from

Thomas Bath Thomas Henry Bath, CBE (21 February 1875 – 6 November 1956) was an Australian politician, trade unionist, newspaper editor, writer, and cooperativist. A member of the Labor Party, he served as a Member of the Western Australian Legislative A ...

, then the '' Kalgoorlie Sun'' and ''Figaro''. After his stint in parliament he moved to Perth, where he edited the '' Perth Democrat'', was leader writer for the '' Daily News'' and contributed to the literary journal ''Leeuwin''. After two years in England, he moved to Sydney in 1916 where he edited the '' Australasian Manufacturer'' until a few months before his death in 1943. Nelson was an official lecturer on the

Great White Train The ''Great White Train'' was an effort in the 1920s by Sydney based industrialists to convince Australians to Buy Australian Made. Background The concept was put forward by the Australia Made Preference League, a consortium of New South Wales ...

tour of New South Wales country towns in 1925–26. He was also the author of a number of books.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Wallace 1856 births 1943 deaths Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Australian newspaper editors Australian writers Scottish emigrants to Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Politicians from Aberdeen Westralian Worker